It is known that looking through a high power scope at an object often offers a narrow field of view. In fact, an increase in the power, or magnification, results in a decrease, or further narrowing of the field of view. In the field of optics, the power or magnification is the amount of enlargement one uses over what the naked eye sees naturally. This is typically expressed in numbers followed by an × sign. Zero magnification is expressed as 1×, double the magnification is 2×, and ten times is 10× and so on.
The difficulty of viewing any object through a high power scope comes in various forms. One difficulty is in finding the object and viewing it. This process is also known as “target acquisition”. Another difficulty is in maintaining a target in the magnified field of view for the duration of the viewing period or as long as needed by a viewer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,833 to Mise, discloses Spotting Scope With Alignment Viewer. In this Patent, while a low power scope affords a wider field of view than a high power scope, it still does not provide the widest possible field of view. The view finder body is rigidly joined to the spotting scope body. This does not allow for any needed adjustments for viewing targets at different distances. Furthermore, the device of the Mise Patent does not allow for simultaneous viewing with both eyes through both scopes. This forces the viewer to constantly move his/her gaze from one scope to the other, thereby risking not finding or losing the target altogether.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,036 to Cluff discloses Binocular Spotting Scope Assembly. The assembly of the Cluff Patent suffers from the following shortcomings. While binoculars are used to aid in finding a target, a binocular does not afford a wider field of view than a monocular (single barrel) scope with the same power. According to the Cluff Patent, the lines of vision of the binocular and the spotting scope cross at a point forward of the assembly. This indicates that if a target is found in the center of the binoculars' field of view, at a particular distance, it can then be viewed in the center of the spotting-scope. However, if the distance to the target changes, it will no longer be in the center of view. In fact it might be completely out of the field of view. There will be a need to adjust the angle between the binocular and the spotting-scope. Constant adjustments of this setup will result in constant misalignments. It could also result in a complete loss of potential targets. The setup of the Cluff Patent does not allow for simultaneous viewing with both eyes through the binoculars and the spotting scope. This forces the viewer to constantly move his/her gaze and risks losing the target or not finding it at all.
In the case of the Binocular With Disparate Fields Of View, disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,466,481 to McCabe, the field of view afforded by the low power, 4×-7×, side of the “binocular with disparate field of view”, is still narrow when compared to the widest field of view allowed by a 1× scope. Furthermore, viewing a target, in the distance, through the two different magnifications of the disparate optical systems is not the same as viewing the world through two disparate lenses at the base of one's nose, as in prescription glasses. This is because every lens system, arrayed on an optical axis (lenses arranged in line in a single tube or barrel), suffers some imperfections or aberrations. In a regular binocular two symmetrical optical lens systems are put together. That is why the relative aberrations in a binocular are not pronounced enough to cause a major problem and might never be noticed. However, if they are not symmetrical, as in the McCabe Patent, the disparate aberrations will degrade the quality of the picture and cause confusion in the mind of the viewer.
Thus, it has been a need for a definitive, simple, compact, economical and universal visual target acquisition system. There is also a need for a system that allows the widest possible field of view, that provides a superimposed point of reference in that field of view, so as to aid in finding any target no matter at what the distance to the target is located. It has been a further need for an optical system that allows the simultaneous and immediate magnified viewing of such target.